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Comment by jtdev | Hacker News Reader

HIMSS 2020, a conference of ~45000 attendees from 90+ countries is still scheduled to go forward at Orlando Convention Center March 9-13.

I was actually blocked by HIMSS PR folks on Twitter for inquiring about their preparedness plan... which is inadequate to say the least. To top it off, HHS Secretary Alex Azar is a keynote speaker, so now cancelling or major attendees/sponsors pulling out is also a political issue.

This could actually be a catalyst for major transmission. It’s ridiculous.

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I had to look it up:

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society

Irony meter would break off if an outbreak happened there.

Probably not a particularly substantive comment but in my experience hubris abounds in healthcare. Even if this did happen in would be explained away as the shortcomings of a few rather than any systemic cultural issue.

Of course, the field is full of doctors with God complexes

No, it's the healthcare IT people. Imagine people with the combined hubris of physicians and SV SWEs, and the skills of neither. It has to be the most Dunning-Kruger conference on Earth.

I worked in hospital IT for a little while and I wouldn't say this is the rule, but man you really nailed the exception hahaha.

Las Vegas is hosting it's third largest annual convention (130,000) on March 10 [1], though that has few international attendees. The fourth largest (100,000) in late April is notably international [2].

Worth noting that unlike GDC, both of these conventions feature equipment that is too expensive to demo at a customer site. Disruption of either of these two conventions will come at a cost.

[1] https://www.conexpoconagg.com

[2] https://nabshow.com/2020/

> Disruption of either of these two conventions will come at a cost.

Who cares? People's lives are at stake, and a convention like this can be a hotbed of transmission.

> People's lives are at stake

Just to proactively avoid any misunderstanding here, I'd like to point out that the virus is expected to spread in the US at this point. It's not a matter of _if_ you will be exposed, but rather _when_. From a logistical perspective, it's important that cases are spread out over time as much as possible in order to avoid the health system being overwhelmed.

I don't think the poster intended that to mean the conferences should go ahead in the face of specific risks just because of the money involved. It was a simple statement regarding the economic impact of the virus.

I didn't say or imply the cost wasn't worth paying, just noting it because it is an example of the economic impacts that can be anticipated.

Consider emailing the City of Orlando about this. Their response will be public record in accordance with Florida open records law. They know this, and will act accordingly. Whatever their position, it’ll be in writing.

https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Contact-Us

I just asked them on Twitter if they are indeed blocking people for asking about COVID. I wonder how many people they are prepared to block for asking a polite question.

Email Orlando City Council at troubleshooter@orlando.gov about the potential danger.

There are plenty of events still going in.

Right. Lots of events may not have an "international" set of attendees, though.

Many do. With protocols around not having travelled to infected regions.

Really, care to share any examples? Is California on the no-fly list?

The HIMSS protocol is basically PR B.S. with a bunch of half measures like:

- “Attendees should not travel to HIMSS20 if they are feeling unwell.”

- “HIMSS is providing guidelines and updates to conference attendee hotels on healthy procedures and tips.”

- “HIMSS20 will be a handshake-free meeting. We recommend the HIMSS elbow tap.”

- “There will be an increased number of hand sanitation sites available“

https://www.himssconference.org/updates/himss-update-coronav...

> - “HIMSS20 will be a handshake-free meeting. We recommend the HIMSS elbow tap.”

Ironically the advice I keep seeing is to sneeze into your elbow to minimise contaminating things with your hands...

Badges should indicate whether you're an elbow sneezer or a hand sneezer, so that mutually compatible people can elbow tap or hand shake as appropriate.

Japanese bow, Indian Namaste, Roman Salute, my preference is Fist-Bump that at the end transforms into a friendly game of rock-paper-scissors (which is universally[1] understood).

[1] jan-ken-pon https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Jan-ken-pon&redirect=no

The Roman salute was co-opted by right wingers a while back. Probably not the best of your suggestions.

I wasn't aware. fwiw maybe the public could hi-jack it back from the right. better than letting them keep it?

No, there is no getting it back from this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_salute

Did you never learn about WWII? Not sure there is a campaign effective enough to overwrite the association with Hitler.

You sneeze into the inside of your elbow and shake with the outside.

Elbows are likely clothed and it takes a contortion to touch the outside of your elbow to your face.

SXSW is still going on... it has a rather international footprint too. I hope all is well!

Clearly HIMSS attendees should be prepared with proper contagion defenses, like excellent hand washing and masks for airborne pathogens :).

It is not preparedness. If you have active virus it stays on, get one of the staff as in the cruise and if he or she has no symptoms... it is not individual preparedness. It helps but not that much.

> This could actually be a catalyst for major transmission. It’s ridiculous.

Have you ever used public transport?

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